Ga. men sentenced for stealing $4 million from bank | Crime

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ATLANTA -- Four Georgia men will spend time in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the Bank of New York Mellon.

The defendants include:

Harry Cobb, 48, DecaturPleaded guilty in September 2014Sentenced to one year and eight months in prison, then five years of supervised release

William Leese, 33, DuluthPleaded guilty in December 2014Sentenced to three years and one month in prison, then five years of supervised release

Derek Spinks, 35, AustellPleaded guilty in September 2014Sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, then five years of supervised release

Zachary Vaughn, 35, AtlantaPleaded guilty in August 2014Sentenced to five years and three months in prison, then five years of supervised release

"The sentencing of these four defendants brings to a close an extensive and expensive bank fraud scheme," J. Britt Johnson, Special Agent in Charge at the FBI Atlanta Field Office, said in a release. "With restitution amounts in excess of $4 million, these individuals will have many years to contemplate their bad decisions."

As part of their sentences, the defendants must repay $4,387,598.57 to the Bank of New York Mellon.

The scheme began in December 2009, when Vaughn, then a Bank of New York employee, wired $4.3 million from the bank to an account in the name of a business owned by Spinks. Spinks and Leese then invested the stolen money in another business, which was owned by Leese and Cobb.

Prosecutors said the money paid business expenses, but the defendants also spent some of it on cars, gold, travel, and a suite at Atlanta Hawks games.

The theft was discovered when 2013, when Vaughn left his job at the bank.